Hey guys- Steven and I have had our own blogs for a while now and will probably update those MUCH more than we will with this one! Now that he is here its so fun to post pics and stories about what a great little guy he is! Check out Steven’s blog and my blog.

One of the reasons I love adoption is that every adoption experience is different. Each situation is unique with different circumstances and different people.

I have felt very blessed in this experience. Today was no exception. I am going to refer to her as “A” from now on. I don’t want to share her name or a ton about her just out of respect for her. Again, if there weren’t so many people interested in adoption- I would probably not share any info about today. I love her so much and just want to honor her throughout this process.

Today was nothing short of amazing. We were so nervous and excited. It feels like we have waited for this day since August of 07. I have imagined what it would be like and I can say that it exceeded my expectations!

We got there this morning and met with our social worker for about 30 mins and then A and her social worker came into the room. We were so excited to finally see her!! We gave her flowers and hugged. She was so nervous and excited. We sat down and the conversation just started flowing. I don’t think the social workers said anything until about 30 mins into it! She asked so many questions about us and who we are. We did the same about her. We asked what her interests were and what she liked to do. We asked what her fears were and if there were any deeper questions that she wanted to ask us. There were several questions that she asked that were so convincing to us that she has an enormous love for this baby. We never doubted that but it was so fun to see it in her face. She is so beautiful and has an incredible personality!! We never stopped talking the entire time. She said over and over that she was so excited for us. That was very hard for me to hear. I wanted to encourage her and love on her and in turn she was glowing and so very excited for us. I wanted to be able to tell her that back but I can imagine that there will be sadness ahead for her. The reality was very difficult. I don’t even have words to describe that feeling.

When we began this process and throughout I have said that I will love that baby for as long as we have him. I did not feel as if I could call him my own until the 10 days were up and everything was done. Today I left with a very different feeling. I felt as if she was pleading for us to love this baby as our own from the time he comes out of her. She stated that she has thought about this decision for 9 months and she feels like she is carrying this baby for us. Did you get that? For us. This statement knocked me off my feet. I NEVER thought she would feel that way. I guess I thought she would be wavering in her decision. She sounds so sure of what she really really wants to do. I left with a sense of ownership after I saw her sweet face and listened to her ask us to be ready to parent this child because thats what she wanted. I have such a deep love and respect for her. She chose life for this baby. She LOVES this baby but this is what she wants. I just feel so humbled and honored. So I am ready. I am ready to treat this child as our own because that is what A wants. She really really wants that. If she changes her mind- we will be fine. This is just a huge way for us to honor her right now. She told us that she wants us to be excited and to not fear about her changing her mind because she isn’t going to.

So yes, we are elated. I have 2 more solid nights of sleep and then its all over!!!! I am taking time tomorrow just to get everything ready, pray and read. I am very excited. We will go Thursday and at noon will have a baby!! I really feel that God was honored today. I hope He was. We wanted her to see him and be able to share as much as we could of his love for us. We prayed with her and hugged and had a wonderful time. I will never forget today. It is just as special as the day we will see August.

We had one big thing that we learned today. The “10” days won’t be up until the 23rd. There are a couple reasons as to why but I won’t go into all that. We laughed out loud when we heard that. God is just so wanting us to be stretched and to trust Him. We just had to laugh. We will be fine.

Oh one more thing- we got a call today and there is a guy who is trying to get financing to put an offer on our house!! Does anybody see how hilarious this all is????? We are praying that he gets it and that this will be the end of our house selling strains!!

Thank you all so much for walking with us and praying. Please please pray for A as she goes in Thursday. I know she is very nervous and ready for all of this to be over. I am just praying for peace and for her to be able to sleep easy these next 2 nights. Please pray that we can share more of God with her. We love you guys and thank you for your prayers today!!!

This is a huge day for us. It is one that we have looked forward to since we started this process. Today is the day that we meet our sweet mom. I really could not explain my heart this morning if I tried. I think the only way to, would be to say that my heart is flooding for her this morning. I can’t wait to hug her, give her huge beautiful flowers and tell her how humbled we are that she chose us to parent this baby. I long to tell her that we never want her to factor in hurting us in her decision. We love her and want her to make a decision that she can live with for the rest of her life. I could go on and on. I could seriously talk her head off but I don’t want to do that. Please just pray that we only say what God would have us say today. That my mouth would stay closed when it needs to and only open with words that bring peace and love. It is NOT about us. It is about serving her and making her feel loved. I don’t know what to expect. I am praying against it being awkward and me talking to much because I am nervous!!

We are more than excited. We are ready. We are ready to go forward no matter what that might bring. So many of you have emailed or sent texts and it brings tears to my eyes to think about each of your hearts towards us. We love you all so much and could never repay the amazing love and support you have shown us! Thank you for walking with us through this journey. This is one big week!!

our upcoming adoption is quickly approaching…next thursday to be exact. i thought we would have the necessary funds by now, but we don’t. we’ve tried not to abuse this blog with requests to help with this adoption. God has graciously provided almost all of the money via people like yourselves. However, we are still about 1/3 short of the money needed. That comes out to be about $4,000.00. I have picked out 12 of my favorite photos in order to try and sell them to help raise the remainder of this money. These prints will be 8×10, and they will cost $35.00. This price includes shipping. If i can sell 140 prints…we’d have the rest of the money!

Thank you guys for your prayers & support throughout this entire process. We are on the home stretch, and could not be more excited. If you can’t afford a print, and still want to help us out…write a post about these prints for sell & the reason i’m selling them & link back to this post…that’d be awesome help! You guys are the best!

*Friday we found out that we have to have a “home” before we go to Nashville for the adoption. Our new social worker in Texas has to come out and redo our homestudy this week. We were thinking this could be done when we got back. By the grace of God we already had a deposit down on the apt we wanted and they let us move in within 24 hours of that phone call. You can guess what we have been doing all weekend!! I am so excited to have our baby bed and changing table put together!!

*With this new information regarding our homestudy I had to make a very hard decision about Haiti. I knew our social worker was coming out to redo our homestudy and us moving into a new place that it would have been impossible for me to go to Haiti with Jamie this time. We had this trip planned way before we ever got chosen. Its so hard to know that Jamie is walking around Haiti right now and I am not with her.

*One week from today we will be driving to Tennessee!! Its getting crazy close. We are so excited and counting down the days

*I am doing ok with everything. The closer we get the more afraid I become. My days literally consist of me praying/journaling, reading my Bible, trusting, resting, getting up, doing stuff, start worrying again, surrender everything again, journal more, get busy again, start worrying, sit down and trust again and so on. It is getting harder the closer it gets. Everytime I go to God, He is constantly pushing me to trust and rest. Everytime! He just tells me to trust and that He loves me over and over again.

*Here are my fears- I am in love with this child and I long to bring him home to the place we have prepared for him but I am scared of getting hurt. I am more afraid that she will make the wrong decision and hurt for the rest of her life. I have to just pray and leave it there with God. I love adoption but it is sooooo hard!!!!!! Nobody ever said it was easy! I think I am just ready for the chance to meet her. I have to know that God is in control of everyone’s hearts and I am walking right beside him even though it is scary. He is with me and it is so evident!

*When we see him for the first time I want my heart to be fully ready to love. I don’t want to hold back because of fear. I am working towards that. I want to love for as long as we have him. Whether it be for 2 days or for the rest of his life. I know that he is not ours until those papers are signed and the time period is up but I am going to love that child for as long as we have him. (Do I say the same things over and over again in these posts? I think I do but its just good for me to get it all out.) I am very close to this- I just have to keep pushing to get there.

*I am just praying that our mom knows we will take care of this baby as our own. I don’t want her to worry about whether we will love this baby or not. I am just praying that God gives her peace about that in her decision making process.

*The reason I tell you all this is because I want to be honest through this process. I WANT people to learn and adopt because there are so many kids out there that need us! I don’t want to sugar coat anything because its not easy but I know it will all be worth it and I would do it all over again!

*Please pray that our homestudy gets done in time.

*Please pray for all of our hearts. There are so many emotions in all of this.

*Please pray for our stinking house to sell. For the love!!!

*Oh I forgot- We love our new apt!!! It is so homey already and Steven and I are having a blast putting it all together. We love it so much! I look forward to having people over and cooking for them. I look forward to having a place to where our friends and family can come and stay with us. We are sad that we will only be able to stay for a week and then leave for a month! Its nice to have a home.

Alright- I think that is enough updates for now! We will let you know what is coming in the next couple of weeks!!